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Salma Hayek is a successful, yet down to earth actress. In an interview that I found online, she informs about the “Hollywood Rules”. Furthermore, Hayek addresses issues about the enormous pressure that women have to undergo on their way to fame.

Hayek: “Society thinks if you don’t have children, you’ve failed as a woman, even if you are CEO of a company. You’ve got to be beautiful, smart, skinny, tall, rich, successful at your job, married to the right guy – and have genius children. And by the way, you also have to be a nun.”

According to Hayek, and actress is no longer just an actress who’s only job is to be good in film. Nowadays, there is an invisible pressure put on women who are on their way to succeed. Expectations rise higher and higher, and not all women are strong enough to ignore these unrealistic expectations that are being placed on them.

Hayek says that it has gone too far: “The stress is sensational. But then, you have to keep everything in perspective. It’s a dress, hair, makeup – c’mon, let’s go! We have to stop this obsession that starts when we’re teenagers: ‘Am I pretty enough?”

When searching the web, I was not able to find a lot of stars sharing Hayek’s opinion. Maybe because of set rules, set ideals, stars prefer to talk about other things. However, I was positively surprised to find a woman who seems to be “real”, and seems to have kept her natural way of being without letting the beauty mass industry come too close.

Hollywood, and the revolving society of it are known as the rich and beautiful in our world. But when does beauty become too much? When does richness become an obsession? This time, I would like to show you how wrong the rich and beautiful can go themselves. Moreover, I would like to stress the materialistic and unnatural being of Hollywood, and I also would like to encourage girls to rethink their beauty desires and see the effects they leave on human beings.

Hollywood’s desperate need for Botox

These two women are a ‘nice’ example how the Botox procedure can go wrong. Thank God, there are enough stars who use it with caution. But why do stars, and those who can afford it need it? Why is it unacceptable in our society to grow old with pride? Why do women feel the pressure to hide every single, small wrinkle that appears with time? Aren’t wrinkles more than just wrinkles? Aren’t they signs of our lived lives, of our experiences? And if so, why should we try to hide them? Well, in order to answer this question, I would need friends from Hollywood, which I sadly (or luckily) don’t have. Maybe these two women would not look as painful if they would have had less friends in Hollywood.

Fake Tan

Another, rather unnecessary beauty try is the so called spray tan – or fake tan. More and more Hollywood stars seem to be willing to spray their bodies brownish orange in order to appear more healthy or relaxed. Sadly, the outcome often looks like in the picture above where Christina Aguilera has tried too hard, while the man seems to have decided to color only half of his face.

Hair Extensions

Well, hair extensions are a “must have”, not only in Hollywood, but all around the world. However, Hollywood stars such as Britney and Paris are doing their best to promote the fashion of head fur. Apart from damaging your natural hair, looking like fleas or little animals, being expensive, falling out and so on……… hair extensions seem to be an “accessorize” the stars cannot live without. Sad, but fact.

Last but not least……………….

……..The Ultimate Thinness

The size O is becomming more and more fashionable through out Hollywood. Stars seem to be fascinated by this “healthy” appearance. It seems that Nicole and Keira are advertising their new slogan ” More bones, more success!” The sad fact about this is that more and more young women around the world start to accept this type of looks, without being aware of the health problems they are causing themselves.

If we – the “normal” people receive such images from Hollywood on an every day basis, it is no wonder that crazy (I would call it sick) ideas like these start circling the world and affecting people. These people, with their Botox, extensions, unnatural tan, extreme thinness etc… are people others look up to.

I think it is time we find other role models. Far away from the “beauty” controlled Hollywood.

Here is an interesting article about Botox and its effect on actors –> http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-botox-is-destroying-hollywood-stars-ability-to-act-779102.html

As said in the ad on the right “most man don’t ask whether a women is smart or interesting, they simply ask is she pretty? Nowadays, men have adopted a new word “hot”. So nowadays the men, usually the younger population, as is she hot? Well in regard to this topic, I was able to find a very interesting site that shows ads of the past, and the general role and duties of a women, from a clearly subjective and rather sexist point of view.

These ads obviously present the role of a women from the point of view from a man. According to these ads, women are for household, cleaning and obeying – and only for that. So I ask myself and you – how were girls able to grow up into strong, independent personalities if they were placed under the category of being less than man. I believe that even if some women ignored these ridiculous ads and messages through out the media, they were “put back into place” by the rest of the society. I am happy that nowadays no advertisier or company would dare to put up ads like that – they would simply be distroyed by the feminist groups. Furthermore, I believe that the emergence of feminism and such groups was a good step in the past in order to stand up for female opinion in regard to sexism produced and exercised by man.

I am definitely not a man hater. Neither am I a feminist. I think people, no matter which sex, should be treated equally and should have the same rights. No one is superior to the other. If people still think otherwise, it doesn’t make them better than Hitler or Stalin, or any other being that had no human characteristics.

Apart from this, I find the routine of the so called nuclear family (traditional family) terrifying if we take the example of both parents working full time, coming home exhausted, the man throwing off his work stuff and immediately landing in front of the TV with lifted legs and a beer in his hand, while the wife (as exhausted as she might be) needs to clean the house, make dinner, and take care of the kids. Sadly, I know too many such families, and I simply can not understand why the women let themselves down, why they don’t tell the guy to stand up and help!? Women, especially women of the 21st century are not slaves! I assume the sad fact is that such women have simply come to accept their “sad” lives without having a drive to push and pull from time to time.

Furthermore I found another interesting article about the role of women in media. This article discusses how media influences and leads women in their decisions and changes the societies, and male perception towards a woman as an individual.

The positive aspect about this is that luckily there are enough women (as e in this class) who realize the stereotypes, oppression and sexism going on, and are able to speak and stand up for themselves.

So far I have been discussing the negative attributes in regard to women portrayals in media. This time I would like to concentrate on some role models in the media that encourage us to think positively. Especially I would like to concentrate on Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Merkel, and in the conclusion I would like to mention my mother, who is a former diplomat and the leader of the European Union in Latvia, and a strong role model for me as I start my career as a television journalist.

Hillary Clinton

Was born in 1947 in Illinois, and is the US Secretary of State, working for the US President Barack Obama. Hillary is a Senator, lawyer and the former first lady when her husband Bill Clinton was the President of the United States of America. She also run for US presidency. Hillary has a positive media image, no scandals (excluding her husband’s affair), and is an extraordinary personality. Furthermore, Hillary has worked her whole life in order to reach what she has reached. Hillary Clinton is a charming, intelligent woman with a good taste and lots in her pocket.

Born in 1954 in Mississippi US. Oprah is a top TV host, and the wealthiest and most successful Black African-American woman on earth. From her young age Oprah has been working towards her goal – to become a successful broadcaster. She worked as a journalist in high school, later as a broadcaster for television channels. Nowadays Oprah has reached her dream, and is a world – wide recognized start in the media business. Oprah is somebody to look up to, especially in the media business, and one of my idols as I become a journalist.

Angela Merkel

She is the “Bundeskanzler” of Germany, or the German stateswoman, chancellor, and “is also the first former citizen of the German Democratic Republic to lead the reunited Germany and the first woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation-state in 1871.” (4) Merkel has a PhD in physics and runs the chancellor office after winning the second election period. Merkel has been interested in politics for quite some time, she joined the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) in 1990, from then she has been active for Germany’s goals as well as European Union and world goals, helping smaller and new members of the EU to integrate. Angela is the first female leader in German politics and is believed to have changed Germany to the positive.

Iveta Šulca

Born in Riga, Latvia in 1964, Iveta obtained two Master’s degrees in Political Sciences and Economics at the Latvian Univeristy. Iveta has worked for the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, later as a diplomat in Germany, Czech Republic and Crotatia bein the extraordinary Ambassador of Latvia. From 2006,

Iveta is leading the European Union in Latvia, and has helped Latvia and the Latvian society to grow as a part of the European Union.Iveta is my mother, and a female idol for my personal goals. When I was smaller I used to say “if I reach half of what my mother ha

s reached, I will be proud of myself”. This attitude I have kept till nowadays.

These women are strong role models for any girl or woman growing up into a confident personality. These women personify strong personalities, and present the opposite to the world of what is typically being shown by the mass media in regard to the personification of a woman. With respect, I can say that I am extremely proud, not only of my mother, but of all women who live in our society and prove that intelligence and style do fit together, and that a woman is much more than just an object.

As I continue my career in television news journalism, I keep these female role models in my head.

When looking at music videos of the most successful singers it becomes clear that they all have adopted the technique “sex sells”. No matter if it is the latest video or from 4 years ago, we can see that melody, voice, music have moved aside while nudeness, porn and sex have moved forward. The interesting fact about this: more and more stars include porn features in their texts and videos. A particular example is the video of Beyonce feat. Lady Gaga “Videophone”. When I listened to this song for the first time – in radio, I must admit that I somehow liked the song. However, when seeing the related video on MTV a few weeks later, I was shocked: the video had actually nothing to do with the lyrics of the song. A song about phones and relationships was turned into a sadomasochistic, porn featured sex video.

The song of 50 Cent “Candy Shop” was first place in the charts for months. When listening to the lyrics and seeing the video, the message is clear. What I don’t understand is how extremely women are turned into physical objects and even sex slaves in a video that ‘rules the music charts’. More and more women are put into these limited positions by men and worst – by themselves. As Rihanna sings “Come on rude boy can you get it up? Is it big enough?…Tonight I’m gonna give it to you harder, tonight I’m gonna get it harder…” So I ask: what messages are we receiving every day through radio and television? Not only is the text extremely sexist but the video supports this vulgarism.

I was able to find an interesting article from BBC wherethis issue is addressed.

Last night I was out with my girlfriends, and noticed the difference of attention towards sexy dressed girls, and casually dressed girls (both equally attractive and pretty).

Me and my five girl friends made a bar tour last night. Each one of us being an individual with different taste and style. Each one of us dressed nicely but differently. While four of us chose to dress pretty but rather casual, wearing jeans, skirts and a simple top, two of my friends dressed up wearing evening make up and cocktail dresses.

The difference was enormous! While every single girls seemed to receive attention and kind attitude, the two girls dressed in mini cocktail dresses also received free drinks from men all night. Here we come to the importance of physical looks. It is a wide knows fact that men love with their stomach AND eyes. Where does this come from? can we say that those males buying cocktails for the sexy girls all night have been influenced by the media as well? Or are they simply hunters who choose the most sexiest object? Either way, it was clear that the ‘sexy’ girls where the ‘winners’ of that night. The men? Rather losers by having spent all their money for the cocktails when the girls (we) suddenly disappeared, on our way to another bar.

My girlfriends have different opinions about this topic. While the sexy kind says that they like to attract attention through their looks, the ‘casual’ kind says that they like to attract the attention through their brains. Either way is fine, as long the sexy kind has some brains too. :))

That night I started thinking abut the easy ways of manipulation. And about the types of men that are around there. I believe (know) that not all men look for sexiness in the opposite sex, but it certainly is a factor that can be of great importance. So what does this tell us? We need to dress up to get attention? Not neccessarily! Other times, I have experienced that there is a particular type of man that gets attracted to make up and mini skirts – it usually is the “macho”, “casanova” type. And as we all know, those men are not for life. So I stay with my simple, but stylish look in order not to get attracted by the ‘wrong’ type of men. 😉

How serious is the damage for young girls growing up with such ‘role models’ ?

Has our society lost its real values?

These are just few questions I ask to myself and to my blog’s readers. As media of all kinds has become an important factor of our lives, I wonder how great the influence really is?

From my personal experience, I can say that the level of manipulation is enormous. The sad factor about this is that the ‘manipulation’ is often taking place unconscious through magazines, ads, television and so on. Women receive a certain message every day, which says “you are beautiful if you are thin, wear make up, have the newest designer clothes, buy diet products, etc…..”. The danger lies within women who are affected by those messages and ads, who unconsciously start feeling worthless or ugly, who start following those messages, start buying and spending money to change their visual apperiance… the question is: do they really need to change their looks, do they actually need to become thinner or is it something the companies want in order to sell their products? In my oppinion, the answer is clear: due to the matrealistic society we are living in, due to beauty bussineses, women become slaves of beauty industries.

Of course, and thank God there are still enough women (including myself) who are aware of the unneccessity of such products and looks. However, the risk lies in young, growing up girls, who often do not have a person to share their feelings or opinion, and do not have a person who would tell them “you don’t need all that to be pretty – you are pretty!”

I think that all a woman needs to be beautiful is: to be loved, to love, to feel good and to live healthy! Without spending thousands of dollars for increasing a fictional beauty.